1,4-Diaminobenzene derivatives may be very useful oxidative dyes for a variety of applications. However, most substituted 1,4-diaminobenzene-based dyes are symmetrical 2,5-disubstituted-1,4-diaminobenzene derivatives, while the asymmetrical derivatives are very challenging to make. Not being able to make asymmetrical 2,5-disubstituted-1,4-diaminobenzene derivatives limits their applications due to the limited number of available choices of these types of dyes.